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Cherub
Cherub was a robot which competed in Series 9 of Robot Wars, built by Team Saint, who used the name Team Cherub for television. Cherub reached the Heat Final of Series 9, famously defeating PP3D and Behemoth along the way, but was defeated twice by Eruption, being flipped out of the arena twice in the episode. Design Cherub was a hardened wedge robot with lifting forks capable of turning a full 360 degrees. It was normally invertible, although the wings handicapped Cherub’s ability to drive when inverted. The hardened wedge gave the robot low ground clearance and formidable defence against spinners like PP3D. The forks were designed to breach ground clearances, but could double as spikes and could be sharpened to pierce tyres. Cherub's weight was a full 9kg below the legal limit. Craig Colliass revealed at a Robot Wars Live Event that Cherub was not designed for combat – rather, Colliass wanted to build a robot which was capable of performing ‘handstands’. Based on this principle, Cherub used its two small lifting forks to not only lift other robots, but also itself, as Cherub was well balanced enough to stand on its weapons, and its forks can rotate a full 360 degrees. These also allow Cherub to self-right. However, they also contributed to a minimal damage output, and it relied on its durability to outlast opponents in battles. Etymology Keeping in line with Team Saint's naming theme, which previously included The Saint and Gabriel, Cherub was named after the angelic beings that attend to God, according to Christian faith. The Team Cherub was entered into Series 9 by a team of brothers and sisters from Grove in Oxfordshire. On the live circuit, the team were known as Team Saint, but simply used the name of Team Cherub on Robot Wars. Although Cherub was built by the team's usual captain of Craig Colliass, who was present at filming to help repair the robot, he was not a televised member of the team in Series 9, with his children taking the spotlight. 12-year old Sarah Colliass was the team captain, and she was joined by her twin sister Rosie who operated Cherub's lifting forks, 13-year old Toby who drove the robot in battle, and 26-year old Mark who was responsible for repairs. Team Cherub had a signature pose which they performed in introductions and after victories, where the four team members would place their hands on their backs, and pretend to flap small angel-like wings. Robot History Series 9 Cherub competed in Heat 2, where it fought three veteran teams from the previous series - Draven, PP3D and Team S.Tek's new robot Push to Exit. Cherub started the battle evasively, avoiding the other robots until it drove over Push to Exit's wedge, narrowly avoiding a flip. After being charged by Draven, Cherub drove directly into PP3D's disc, throwing it into the air, and also bending Cherub's lifters. Team Cherub showed no fear of PP3D's blade, and drove into it again, avoiding the powerful weapon, and escaping to battle Push to Exit individually. At this stage, two successive attacks from PP3D immobilised both Draven and Push to Exit, so Cherub qualified for the head-to-heads. Cherub attempted to celebrate with a handstand, but its buckled lifters prevented it from doing so. In the first battle of Round 2, Cherub was once again drawn against PP3D. The team were aware of an exploitable weakness in PP3D's exposed tyres, so they sharpened the lifters of Cherub, intending to pierce the wheels of the opposition. Cherub chased PP3D after when the battle opened, although PP3D evaded the attack, and hit Cherub side-on. Cherub was not greatly damaged, and drove head-first into PP3D's disc, catapulting it into the air, and pushing it onto the fire. Cherub edged PP3D backwards, but sustained another hit, and was thrown into the Arena Tyre, unleashing Rogue House Robot. Cherub reversed into Dead Metal's claws where it was held, and was sliced by the circular saw. During this time, PP3D's disc had reached maximum speed, and when Cherub escaped from Dead Metal's claws a titanic hit from PP3D sent Cherub careening into the arena wall, and over. The impact of Cherub slamming into the wall tore a panel away from the arena, and the battle had to be temporarily halted in order to make repairs. The arena was repaired, although neither competing team could operate or repair their robot during this time, so they did not know whether the robots would function in the restarted battle. PP3D's wheels were turning, but it could not gain traction on the arena floor, while Cherub's wheels were also turning, but it could not self-right, having been flipped over, and its bent chassis stopped the lifters from rotating fully. Cherub was pushed over the flame pit by Dead Metal, and 'cease' was called once again. Cherub and PP3D were both deemed to have been immobilised at the same time, and the battle was sent to a Judges' decision, based upon the entire fight, before and after the breakage of the arena wall. The unanimous Judges' decision was ruled in favour of Cherub, which was awarded 2 points for its victory. Cherub would next be drawn against full-pressure flipper Eruption, although the robot's chassis and lifters required extensive repairs. When Cherub was loaded into the arena, it became apparent that Cherub could not gain sufficient traction on the arena floor to drive freely, and it would effectively be immobile from the very beginning. Regardless, the match started, and Cherub merely lifted itself from the arena floor, and Eruption launched it towards the arena wall. Cherub's wheels were not turning, and Eruption threw Cherub high into the air, and over. Cherub used its lifting forks to attempt to self-right, but took so long in doing so that Eruption could spin it towards the arena wall, slip under its raised body, and throw it out of the arena. Cherub's last fight in the Head-to-Head stage was against Behemoth, so Cherub needed to replace its faulty drive motor, and straighten its lifters that were damaged upon landing. Toby and Sarah Colliass admitted they were fearful of their experienced opponent, but required a victory to reach the Heat Final. Based on Cherub's small size, Team Make Robotics elected to trial-run a new grabber-type weapon to grab Cherub with. However, this weapon's attached wedge was not low enough to the ground, and Cherub's forks immediately bent Behemoth's front clearance. This caused Behemoth to ride over the side of Cherub, which pushed Behemoth around. Behemoth retaliated, but drove onto Cherub's lifter which raised the larger machine up, and then it used the wedge to push Behemoth into Dead Metal. When Behemoth escaped, it caught Cherub side-on, pushed it over the fire, and towards the floor flipper, which activated prematurely. As a result, Cherub fell below the surface of the flipper, and trapping Cherub in place. Cease was called, and after consulting the rules, this was pinning not considered to be a legal KO on Cherub, and the battle was restarted. The position of the two robots was reset, and the battle restarted with two minutes left on the timer. Behemoth caught Cherub side-on again, and pushed it into the Arena Tyre, once again unleashing Dead Metal onto Cherub via Rogue House Robot. After breaking free, Cherub waited in the centre of the arena, and the attacking Behemoth rode straight onto Cherub's wedge, and was manoeuvred into the arena wall. Even Cherub's tyre was able to lift Behemoth from the arena floor, and although Behemoth pushed back, Cherub was maintaining a slight lead. Cherub's wedge again breached Behemoth, losing a hold of its opponent, and drove away. Then, Behemoth drove Cherub and itself into the way of Dead Metal. Cherub lowered its forks to pressure Behemoth, but Cherub's lifter was sliced by the House Robot's saw blade, which had also caused damage to Behemoth. Time expired on the battle, and 'cease' was called, sending Cherub to another Judges' decision. Neither team could tell if they had won, but Cherub performed its signature handstand regardless. The Judges' decision was made, and for the second time, Cherub was awarded the unanimous victory, allowing it to progress to the Heat Final with a total of four points, where this time, a fully mobile Cherub earned a fair fight with Eruption. The team wrote 'Don't flip me!' onto masking tape attached to their robot, in advance of the battle. However, despite Cherub being fully mobile as it drove up Eruption's wedge in the centre of the arena, this proved to be the fastest battle in the entire series, as Eruption turned Cherub around and threw it out of the arena in just 6.5 seconds, blasting it towards the outer wall and causing Cherub to dislodge a piece of lighting equipment. As a Heat Finalist, Cherub remained in contention for the wildcard position in the Grand Final, but this was awarded to Apollo, officially eliminating Cherub right before the Grand Final. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 3 *Losses: 2 Series Record Outside Robot Wars Away from Robot Wars, Cherub also competes at Robots Live! events, and other touring shows, where Cherub often picks up wins as an unsuspecting competitor, although it has not won any major titles or positions. In 2013, Cherub competed in the European Championship, where it survived until a Judges’ decision against Tornado and Alien Destructor. Robot Wars Live Events Cherub has been competing at Robot Wars Live Events over the three years they were active. In Newport, it fought robots including Manta, Terminal Ferocity, and Behemoth. Cherub had a successful run at the Robot Wars World Championship 2015, held in Colchester. It narrowly escaped the first round despite being thrown out of the arena by Eruption, as Behemoth had luckily been thrown out beforehand, and TMHWK lost drive on one side, despite it staying in the arena for longer than Cherub. Cherub was thrown out of the arena again in the second round, this time by Toxic 2, but once again, Brutus had already been thrown out first. In its third battle, Cherub earned its own win by flipping over the immobile Apex. Cherub fell in the quarter-finals, where it was once again thrown out of the arena by eventual champion Toxic 2. Cherub’s 2016 debut was in Manchester, where it fought a Tag Team battle, partnered with Ceros. Iron-Awe 7 broke down after throwing Ceros out of the arena, so Cherub fought a head-to-head battle with Crushtacean. Although Cherub was held in Crushtacean’s claws for most of the match, it won the battle via adjudication when Crushtacean broke down. At the Portsmouth event in 2016, Cherub fought against Thorak, Luzifer and Bullfrog, and later fought Bullfrog again in a melee with Behemoth and Rattler, but Cherub was thrown out of the arena. In another fight, it was immobilised by Stinger. Trivia *The team had a signature pose which they performed throughout their heat, using their hands to represent wings on their backs. *Cherub is the only robot to reach the Heat Final of the rebooted series without earning any head-to-head victories by knockout, qualifying with two victories via Judges' decision. *Due to the nature of the Head-to-Heads, Cherub is the only robot to lose a battle by being thrown out of the Arena, but still progress to the next round. *Cherub is one of two robots to be thrown out of the Arena multiple times in the same episode, the other being Track-tion. **The two are also the only robots to be thrown out of the Arena multiple times by the same robot, Eruption in Cherub's case, and Rapid in Track-tion's. References External Links *Team Saint Facebook page *Team Gabriel/Cherub Twitter *[http://www.robotwars.tv/competitors/season-9/week-2/cherub Cherub on the Robot Wars website] Category:UK Series competitors Category:Robots which debuted in Series 9 Category:Robots which only fought in Series 9 Category:Robots from Oxfordshire Category:Invertible Robots Category:Robots with Lifters Category:Robots with religious or mythological names Category:Robots built while Robot Wars was off-air Category:Robots which are still competing today Category:Competitors in Robot Wars Live Events Category:Robots to damage the Arena Category:Robots Thrown out of the Arena Category:UK Heat Finalists Category:Robots with more Wins than Losses Category:Robots with cameo appearances in Series 10